Police shoot assailants in Helsinki, Vaasa

Police discharged their weapons twice over the weekend, wounding suspects in Helsinki and Vaasa. According to the Police University College Finnish police officers fired 122 shots between 2003 and 2013 -- an average of around a dozen each year.

Police officials say that officers drew and fired their duty firearms at two suspects displaying threatening behaviour over the weekend.

In the first case, a constable from the Ostrobothnia police department shot an armed man in the stomach in the early hours of Sunday morning. A police statement said that the man was shot when he failed to obey police orders as he advanced towards them.

The man was given first aid on the scene and later taken to hospital for treatment after the incident. The police statement says that the Central Finland police department is investigating the man for violently resisting officials.

Helsinki man brandishing knife shot in leg

Meanwhile on Saturday, police shot a man in the leg in Herttoniemi for allegedly behaving in a threatening manner. The 20 year-old man was armed with a knife at the time of the incident.

Police say that he did not obey their orders, but ran towards the officer wielding the knife. He had also reportedly threatened passersby with the weapon.

The Eastern Uusimaa police are investigating the case as violently resisting officials.

The Office of the Prosecutor General will investigate the use of force by police officers in both cases. The police criminal justice unit of the Office of the Prosecutor general is responsible for investigating suspected offences committed by police officers.

Police rarely discharge weapons

According to the National Police Board, officers are only allowed to use their weapons to stop an individual who poses an immediate and grave danger to someone else’s life or health -- but only if there is no other alternative available.

Last November, the Finnish news agency STT reported that on average, Finnish police only use their weapons a few dozen times each year.

According to the Police University College, between 2003 and 2013, police were involved in 385 situations involving the use of weapons, and discharged a total of 122 shots, including warning shots. Situations involving the use of weapons include any circumstances in which police threaten suspects with a firearm or actually discharge one.

Last November police chief inspector Mika Hienilä told STT that there is no real pattern of firearms use among police. He said that such situations might develop suddenly when police arrive on the scene of a suspected crime.

According the police university figures, police resort to the use of force in two out of every 100 arrests, on average. Use of force includes physical restraint, the use of tasers or deploying a police dog.

In one out of four use of force cases, the suspect in question had been in possession of a firearm, knife or other object.

The coach of a sports club in Hyvinkää, southern Finland has been remanded into police custody on suspicion of sexual abuse of minors he was coaching, the Itä-Uusimaa police department said on Thursday. Officials said that they are investigating the case as suspected child abuse but did not disclose the ages of the alleged victims. The suspect in the case, a 50-year-old man, was remanded into custody on Wednesday. The suspected sexual abuse is believed to...

Finns increasingly forego do-it-yourself construction of prefab elements in favour of completely completed homes. Turnkey homes (where homes are fully finished and owners can immediately occupy them) have become more popular than traditional house packages, says the Finnish Association for Manufacturers of Prefabricated Houses. “About 7,500 detached homes are built in Finland every year, and about 70 percent of them are prefabricated houses of some kind,”...

THE FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE in the Helsinki neighbourhood of Arabianranta was visibly subdued on Tuesday, as residents mourned the death of a local child who is believed to have been murdered. While little information has been released to the public, it is known that the victim was murdered near their home on the night of Christmas Eve (December 24). The police apprehended a suspect at the scene of the crime, who has been confirmed as a 36-year old male. Whethe...

One of Finland’s most famous seafaring vessels, the titanic icebreaker Otso, was deployed on its first mission of the winter season last night, keeping sea routes open for the 22nd year in a row. Late in the evening of Christmas Day, Otso, the crowning glory of Arctia Oy’s extensive fleet, departed from Helsinki’s Katajanokka Harbour, heading north to the Bay of Bothnia. The 7000-ton Polar icebreaker has been tasked with keeping waterways open between Oulu...

Eight Finnish political parties have published their a statement on future climate policy goals in Finland. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) in November invited all nine parliamentary parties to join a task force established to find an agreement on new, more ambitious climate goals for Finland. The one-month project was led by Kimmo Tiilikainen (Centre), the Minister of the Environment, Energy and Housing. The Finns Party abandoned the task force last w...

A 25-year-old man suspected of the sexual abuse of a girl under the age of 15 in Oulu, northwestern Finland, who was arrested in Germany last Tuesday is now reported to be at large. According to law enforcement officials in Oulu, the suspect was released by German police before he could be transferred to Finnish custody due to "a breakdown in communication between authorities". Oulu District Court ordered the suspect to be reprimanded into custody in absen...

Finland’s high earners saw their real income grow more in 2017 than their peers in middle and low income groups, according to new data released by Statistics Finland on Tuesday. Incomes among the country’s highest income decile rose by 4.4 percent in 2017 compared to 2016, while the year-on-year increase was 1.3 percent for middle income earners. Incomes for the four lowest income deciles meanwhile grew by 1.2 percent over the one-year period. However amon...

A man wanted in connection with a suspected arson attempt on a home in Helsinki’s Käpylä district was remanded into police custody on Sunday. The Helsinki district court has remanded a man suspected of attempted arson and attempted murder into police custody, ending a short-lived manhunt, police said on Sunday. The 25 year-old is suspected of using a Molotov cocktail to cause a fire at a flat in Käpylä, Helsinki last Monday. The apartment was completely de...

Helsinki Central Library Oodi will opened its doors to the public on 5 December at 8am, a day before Finland’s 101st birthday. Designed by ALA Architects, this library of a new era is an ode to Finnish culture, equality and freedom of expression. Oodi offers everyone an open, public urban space at Kansalaistori Square, right opposite Parliament House. Central Library Oodi is an active and functional meeting point with 2.5 million expected annual visitors....